Lindsay Lohan Recalls Thanking Waiter For Blocking Paparazzi Shot, Then Realizing He Was Actually Doing It For Al Pacino

Lindsay Lohan has been a part of Hollywood's fabric for nearly 30 years now (so nearly her whole life), and with that has seen her share of glamorous moments over the years. The actress got her start as the twins in Disney’s The Parent Trap remake and quickly soared to teen fame after that. Ahead of starring in her first major leading role in years with Falling For Christmas next week, the actress shared a hilarious story about rubbing elbows with her actor peers. 

While conversing about the new Netflix release and holiday romantic comedy, Lindsay Lohan was asked about if she’s been starstruck lately. It resulted in her telling this incredible story, as follows: 

Recently, I was at a restaurant in San Francisco with my husband and his family, and all of a sudden, this waiter was bringing our food to a different table, or I thought he was.…I was like, ‘Oh no, he’s taking that to the other table,’ and then I realized he was blocking a paparazzi flash. And so when he came by, I go, ‘Oh, thank you so much for doing that.’ And he goes, ‘Oh. No, I wasn’t blocking it for you. Al Pacino’s here.’

That's right... Al. Pacino. The best part of this anecdote, which Lohan told Cosmopolitan, is that Lindsay Lohan had technically already met The Godfather actor before. They apparently connected back in 2014 when his friend David Mamet wrote the play Speed-the-Plow. When she was in the production, Pacino offered her advice regarding his pre and post show rituals. Regarding the paparazzi moment, Lindsay Lohan continued: 

I went to say hi. I don’t get nervous talking to him on the phone, but I was nervous this time. And I was like, ‘Is it okay if we take a picture? We need to photograph this moment.’

When it comes to the advice she received from Al Pacino, Lindsay Lohan said he told her to always “focus on your craft,” and she felt it was important to remember not to let “outside things blur your vision.” Growing up around the amount of paparazzi Lohan did, it might have been rather easy for a thing like that to happen, but these days the actress seems like she’s absolutely thriving. 

The actress did open up about the pitfalls of paparazzi lately too, sharing that she’s actually “jealous” of young stars coming up today because they have social media to control their narrative. Lohan grew up in front of the world, but these days she gets to live privately, residing in Dubai, where the paparazzi are illegal. 

Falling For Christmas is among many exciting holiday movies on the 2022 Christmas movie schedule. The movie is about a newly engaged heiress (Lohan) who gets in a skiing accident and is subsequently stricken with amnesia. When she finds herself in the care of a lodge owner (played by Glee’s Chord Overstreet) and his daughter, sparks fly among the magical winter snow. 

Following Falling For Christmas, which will be available to stream with a Netflix subscription, the actress is also set to star in another rom-com on the platform called Irish Wish. In that movie, she’ll play a bridesmaid in an Irish wedding after being previously heartbroken by the groom. Falling For Christmas will be released on November 10. 

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.